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Roll out the pie dough to roughly around a 13-to-14-inch circle.
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Gently fold the dough into quarters and unfold into a 10-inch pie dish.
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Trim the dough if necessary, leaving around a 1-inch overhang. Tuck the edges under the dough and crimp decoratively or with a fork to make an edge.
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Place the prepared pie dish into the freezer and let freeze for 20 minutes.
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Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 400°
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Line the frozen pie dish with parchment paper or buttered foil and fill with pie weights, dried beans, or whatever you can find that is oven safe. I use a bag of dried lima beans that I have kept for years. Make sure to evenly distribute the weights to keep the sides and bottom from puffing up while baking.
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Place the pie dish on a baking sheet for ease of handling.
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Prebake the pie crust for 20 minutes.
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Remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn the oven down to 350°
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Remove the pie weights and the liner. Let cool while you prepare the filling. Keeping it on the baking sheet will make transferring the pie to the oven easier.
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Place the pecans on a separate baking sheet or even a baking dish, and toast for about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir the nuts about halfway through to keep them from burning, keep a close eye on them as to not burn the nuts. They can go from nicely toasted to burned in a flash. The pecans will be fragrant and just slightly brown and crisp.
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While the nuts are toasting, combine the brown sugar, golden syrup, and butter in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Let the mixture come to a boil to dissolve the brown sugar and melt the butter. Set aside to cool briefly.
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In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.
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Beat in the optional bourbon, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla.
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Beat in the warm but not hot syrup mixture.
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Stir in the toasted pecans.
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Pour the pecan pie filling into the cooled pie crust.
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If desired, cover the pie crust's edge with some foil to keep it from getting too dark.
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Bake the Pecan pie for 40-50 minutes. The edges of the filling should be set and puffed up and look sort of firm. But the middle should still be a little jiggly. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.